Tech men sixth, women 10th at Vanderbilt; Palmer and Taylor pace TTU

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tiffany Palmer was the top individual finisher
for the Tennessee Tech women's cross country team Saturday at the
Vanderbilt Invitational, crossing the line at Percy Ward Park in
20th place as the Golden Eagles took 10th in the large, 18-team
field.

In the men's race, Sam Taylor placed 13th individually and the
Golden Eagles claimed sixth place among 16 teams.

Palmer, a senior from Cleveland, Tenn., clocked in at 19:59.7 in
the 5K women's race to pace coach Tony Cox's team for the second
consecutive week. Next across the line for Tech was sophomore Traci
Jones from Aiken, S.C., who covered the distance in 21:12.26 to
finish 57th. Amanda Simmons, a senior from Woodstock, Ga., was next
at 21:50.00 for a 72nd place showing.

A pair of freshmen were next for Tech. Kathryn Forbes from Norris,
Tenn., was Tech's fourth finisher, placing 77th in 22:08.07,
followed by Courtney Koehl from Crossville, Tenn., in the time of
23:29.13 for 96th place. Tech's sixth entry, senior Sarah Kmet from
Cookeville, fiinished 101st in 24:07.49.

Host Vanderbilt captured the women's team title with 34 points,
edging out Eastern Kentucky (43). Murray State (102) placed a
distant third, with Georgia State (108) and Lipscomb (127) rounding
out the top five.

Taylor, a junior from Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., was 13th in 27:10.25 in
the 8K event to pace Tech. Chris Bishop, a freshman from
Morristown, Tenn., also earned a Top 25 finish, placing 25th in
27:35.58. Peter Woerner, a senior from Knoxville, and Joseph
DeLorenzo, a senior from Crossville, crossed the line a
split-second apart. Woerner was 38th in 28:07.42, while DeLorenzo
was 39th in 28:07.77.

Tech's fifth finisher was Ben Shassere, a junior from Oak Ridge,
who ran 28:28.65 for 44th place. Jarrad Read, a senior from
Knoxville, place 57th in 28:43.54. Daniel Francis, John Greene,
WIll Enicks, Ben Thompson, Steven Bretz and Nathan Livesey also ran
in the meet.

Lipscomb won the team crown in the men's race with 72 points,
with Morehead State (131) second, Vanderbilt (145) third, Georgia
State (151) fourth and Rhodes (154) fifth. Tech narrowly missed a
Top Five finish, placing sixh with 158 points.